midwest mess, a monster winter storm promises to punish parts of the country's midsection with some areas getting more than a foot of snow. investigators in kansas city try to stay ahead of that storm as they search for clues in a deadly explosion and fire that leveled a restaurant. and a new twist in the oscar pistorius murder case. the lead investigator is now facing attempted murder charges. captioning funded by cbs this is the "cbs morning news" for thursday, february 21st, 2013. good morning. good to be with you. i'm anne-marie green. this morning a major winter storm packing heavy snow is moving into the nation's heartland. at least 15 states are under a

winter watch or advisory, and tens of millions of people are in the storm's path. some areas can expect more than a foot of snow. heavy snow is already falling in kansas. state offices there will be closed until tomorrow morning. residents have been urged to stay off the roads. near tucson, arizona, the world golf championship match play event was suspended due to a freak snowstorm. blizzard warnings were posted in parts of the state. some areas of phoenix got two inches of snow and the snow in the midwest is already being blamed for one death, a highway accident in oklahoma. cbs meteorologist david bernard is following the massive weather system. >> it will be taking shape during the day today. look how big the storm warning area is. it's all of nebraska, kansas, and missouri, even portions of arkansas. we're talking about a lot of snow konk the big part of the

midwest. this is welcome snow because of the severe drought that's ongoing. now, it will change over to rain in oklahoma city with a high of 48 but all know? omaha and kansas with temperatures staying in the mid-20s throughout the day. how much snow will fall, where we see some of these purple areas, we're talking an foot of snow by the time it's said and done friday morning. in the blue, that includes places like wichita, kansas city, and st. louis. could see heavy snowfall amounts. again, that's going to be friday morning. i'm david bernard, cs news, miami. over seas to the third day of oscar pistorius's murder. the lead investigator faces attempted murder charges himself and the prosecution admits it has no evidence challenging

pistorius's story that he shot his girlfriend by accident. tina kraus reports from london. >> reporter: a police van took oscar pistorius back to court for what could be the final day of bail hearing to determine his fate. family members carried the athlete's clothes from a police station where pistorius spent his seventh night in jail for the alleged premeditated murder of his girlfriend reeva steenkamp. in a draw might twist to the case south african police revealed the man leading the investigation is facing several attempted murder charges. chief detective hilton botha who took the stand yesterday is accused of shooting at a mini bus full of people in 2007. lawyers say he botched the investigation into steenkamp's death. they blame him for contaminating the crime scene and changing the story about what happened. police admit they left a bull yet from the killing inside the toilet of pistorius's. the sprinter said he thought he was attacking an intruder.

prosecutors are trying to convince the judge they have evidence pistorius shot to kill and should be kept in jail until his murder trial. the shooting is front page news across south africa. >> i'm feeling for both of the family, for reva's family and oscar's family because it must be traumatic for them. >> reporter: pistorius's murder trial is still likely months away. now back in this country, eight days away from the automatic and massive budget cuts known as the sequesteseque. defense secretary leon panetta warns if the cuts are allowed to kick in the united states military would not be able to fill all of its missions. but others are ready to let the chips fall where they may. >> good morning, anne-marie. these cuts would hit teachers, agents, fbi, border patrol, food inspectors, and a lot more.

with this deadline looming, congress is not here this week. they went out on recess. when they come back on monday, there'll be four days left to reach a compromise, and while many believe there will be an 11th hour agreement, there seems to be growing sentiment on capitol hill to let the sequester happen. the defense department got sobering news on wednesday. most of them will take a big pay cut unless something is done to avoid to deep bucket cuts known as sequester. >> if furloughs are enacted, civilians will experience a 20% decrease in their pay between late april and september. >> reporter: robert hale says it will save the government $4 billion to $5 billion but president obama says the cuts should be made elsewhere. >> there's no reason they should

be furloughed or laid off. >> president obama is trying to pin the blame for the last-minute change on congress. he has the stage here in washington all to himself. >> i'm hoping while they're back home, they're hearing it from their constituents so when they get back here, they're ready to do some work and we can avoid these automatic spending cuts. >> but congressmen back home may not be getting the earful the president is hoping for. while nearly a half a million want them to happen, less than 40% want to let it happen. >> not only should the sequester stand. many pundits say the sequester falls short. >> if the cuts kick in, that same poll shows more people would blame republicans in congress than the president. now some areas the budget will not affect. social security, medicare, medicaid, and food stamps. anne-marie, the projections say eventually half a point will be shaved off gdp because of these cuts.

>> wow, it's going to be a tense few days. thank you, susan mcginnis in washington. on the "cbs moneywatch," getting the dreamliner off the ground and the takeover. good morning. >> good morning. worries about monetary tightening by china sent stocks down. tokyo's nikkei lost more than 1%. hodge congress's hang seng fell nooem 2%. bad day on wall street. the federal reserve said wednesday it might scale back its bond-buying program, and that sent stocks tumbling. the dow plummeted 108 points, its biggest loss of the year. the nasdaq sank 49. boeing may have a plan to get their grounded dreamliner fleet back in the air. a company kpek will meet with federal regulators tomorrow and present the plan for the lithium ion batters from failing. they're looking into possible insider trading around the sale of heinz ketchup.

the day before they bought it, an investor bought 350 stock options. the s.e.c. said they used a swiss-based account with goldman sachs. in one day the investment soared to $1.8 million. the company made the announcement yesterday. analysts had expected the sale for years and will allow the times to focus on its core brand and expand its digital plat ffp. and sony is betting its video gaming future on the play station 4. the company unveiled the new device yesterday, only they didn't actually show it or say how much it will coast. sony said it will be the most personalized gaming experience on the market. the ps 4 should be in stores by the holidays, anne-marie. >> looks like it's a guessing game is what they're playing. thanks very much. well, coming up on this morning's news, blast

investigation. we're learning more about what sparked that dedsly explosion in kansas city as crews race to search for more victims. this is the "cbs morning news." >> announcer: "moneywatch" sponsored by vagisil. count on it. i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. thanks. that's the cold truth!

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eastern georgia wednesday night. it was coming from nashville and ran off the airway. it was operated by a medical practice with clinics in several southeastern cities. in kansas city it's a race against time. a winter storm is moving in, and investigators are scrambling to figure out what triggered tuesday's deadly blast at a restaurant. a body was recovered yesterday and a mother of a missing server

said her daughter was killed in that explosion. >> reporter: fire officials say they found the body in the blackenled rubble of a popular kansas city restaurant. they were not able to account for one jay jay explosion. >> we have not been able to identify the body of the person found at j.j.'s. >> reporter: cruise searched the rubble for additional victims but the fire department is moving forward with the cause of the investigation. >> we've run down every lead we'reware of for possible missing persons and have found no more victims at this time. >> reporter: surveillance video from a neighboring business caught the blast from across the street. flames ripped through the shopping district just before the dinnertime rush. witnesses say they smelled gas. fire officials confirmed there was an accident at a construction site about an hour before the blast. >> the subcontractor, heartland midwest, was working for a cable company, putting fiber in the

area. they hit the line with an underground boring machine. >> reporter: the explosion and fire injured at least 15 people, some critically. complicating the investigation, a winter storm is expected in the area wednesday night. adrianna diaz for cbs news. still to come this morning, how you can get an early look at google's interconnected eyeglasses. and in sports out of this world. no boost police. a zoo creature is becoming a basketball star. wow, i've been claritin clear for 10 days! when your allergies start, doctors recommend taking one non-drowsy claritin every day during your allergy season for continuous relief. 18 days! 12 days! 24 days of continuous relief. live claritin clear. every day.

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demonize selected individuals. for more than a decade, armstrong stronltly denied using performance-enhancing drugs as he racked up world titles including seven tour de france yellow jerdies but they found evidence he had doped last year that stripped him of his victories. armstrong himself finally came clean with oprah winfrey. travis tygart said he believed he was going to cooperate but last month he told scott pelley on 60 minutes that such could expose him to criminal charges. >> there's a five-year statute on a fraud criminal charge, so the five years today would have been expired. however, if the last point of his doping as we alleged and proved in our recent decision was in 2010, then the statute has not yet

cover-ups. well, in the nba the los angeles lakers take the court for the first time since the death of owner jerry buss. perhaps fittingly they fast their archrival the boston celtics. in the third quarter l.a.'s steve nash passes legend magic johnson for fourth on the all-time list. and they pass boston, 113-99. in houston now the rockets get some clutch play down the stretch from their stars. they combine for 75 points including some big threes late in the game. and in the game's closing seconds, oklahoma city's kevin durant misses what could have been a tied three-pointer. they beat them 122-119. the nba trade deadline is

today. they're looking for pretty good dunkers. they may want to look to portland. they may want to check out the zoo. this is eddie the zoo otter. they trained him to shoot this ball through this small hoop. he actually suffers from arthritis and playing basketball helping his joints. he gets a treat every time he gets a dunk. he misses but he keeps on trying until he gets a shot. when we return, cutting edge eye ware. google unveils its new internet glasses and offers you a chance to be one of the first to buy them.

here is a look at some of the forecasts in some of the cities around the country. washington, d.c., mostly sunny, 39. atlanta, cloudy, high of 60. st. louis will be windy, 31 the high. snow in denver. seattle, of course, rain, and 46 the high.

well, cardinals from all over the world are starting to gather in rome to choose pope benedict's successor, but some catholics are demanding retired archbishop roger mahoney not attend because of his role in shielding sexually abusie ivivi priests. he said he will attend the conclave. u.s. cardinal timothy dolan will also attend the conclave. he was questioned while he was the head of the archdiocese of milwaukee. he's reportedly one of the front-runners to succeed benedict but on wednesday he wouldn't join in the speculation. >> all the cardinals are really embarrassed to talk about that, and we'd be uncomfortable talking about it. so i'll leave it at that. >> boston's cardinal sean o'malley is also reportedly on the short list. he has a reputation as a

reformer in the aftermath of the priests' sex abuse scandal. a lucky skier lives to tell the tale after an avalanche. he couldn't help but being smiled wheen he was rescued. he was making his last run of the day when he heard the ground moan and was buried. other skiers saw his ski pole sticking up and were able to pull him to safety. and you can be one of the first to wear google's internet glasses. the company released new video of google's glass in action. the glasses won't be available until next year, but google's holding a contest to offer people a chance to buy the glasses for $1,500. all you have to do is explain in 50 words what you'd do with the google glass technology. if it was me, i'd probably be bumping into a lot of walls. coming up after your local news on "cbs this morning," the latest in the oscar pistorius case and in "healthwatch" the

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. is. good morning. welcome to wusa9. today is thursday, february 21. i'm andrea roane. he's anxious to get going. >> i was. i wanted her to catch her breath because she's very, very

fast. you don't know how fast she can run. she can. i'm mike hydeck. it's thursday. that means you're almost there. it's going to be a great day because we're going to start it off that way. good morning, monika good i like your way good mr. bernstein, good morning. >> good morning. attitude is critical. >> especially when you're freezing. >> it is a little chilly out there but the sun is going to shine. it will be another breezy day. the weekend will not be a tolls loss. -- total loss. just partial. let me back it up and show you the day planner here. we have sunshine expected once again today. it is going to be breezy and kind of chilly. temperatures will be climbing into the 40-degree range for a high this afternoon but with those winds once again windchills 20s and 30s. not as windy as yesterday but we'll call it blustery with the mid afternoon high of 40. partly cloudy this morning. we've had a patch of clouds come across west virginia, across the region right now.

to the north of town we have more holes in the sky cover and pennsylvania and the mountains. still some snow showers going o. winds not as gusty but still up to 25 in winchester. 21 in leesburg. 17 in manassas. let's talk temperatures. a cold start. andrea, correct once again. 21 in gaithersburg to 23525 in call pep other other -- to 25 in culpeper. let's go over to monika with timesaver traffic. some issues and it's earlier. >> a pretty big accident at route 4. they have shut down the lanes till 3:00 this morning. everything has been reopened. i wanted to let you know in case you heard about it overnight on the inleer hoop at pennsylvania avenue. southbound 495. 95 looks good. no problems to report as you head around the bend. 95, 495 toward college park into silver spring, bethesda. no issues here at montrose road

as you can see in rockville. things are looking great. back to the maps this time to virginia on the northbound side of i-95. lanes are open. route 1 at telegraph road, construction blocks the two right lanes. a live picture here at the 14th street bridge, nice and quiet. we begin with breaking news. fire crews are on the scene of a blaze in the landover section of prince george's county. it's right on the corner of leslie avenue and reed street. >> four people are being treated at the scene. two of them are possibly children. we have a crew headed there. we'll try to bring you more information as soon as we get it and they get set up. the government is preparing for sequestration. those are those automatic budget cuts that will kick in march 1. >> president obama is calling on congress to pass a temporary fix in order to come up with a better long-term strategy. susan mcginnis has more. >> reporter: defense department workers got sobering news wednesday. most of them will take a big

pay cut uns will something is done to avoid the deep budget cuts known as the sequester. >> if furloughs are ain can'ted -- are enacted, civilians will experience a 20% decrease in their pay between april and late september. >> reporter: the chief budget office says the furloughs will save the government $4 billion to $5 billion but president obama says the cuts should be made elsewhere. >> there's no reason they should be furloughed. there's no reason they should lose their job or be laid off. this is a problem that congress can solve. >> reporter: president obama is trying to pin the blame for the last-minute budget crisis on congress and with both chambers on recess this week, he has the stage here in washington all to himself. >> i'm hoping while they're back home, they're hearing it from their constituents so when we net back here, they're ready to do some work and we can avoid the automatic spending cuts. >> reporter: but congress back home may not be getting the earful the president is hoping for. while nearly half of the americans